SearchHere are some pictures of how Thais used to make (and still do sometimes) coconut milk and shredded coconut for the curries and other dishes that require this. Believe me this is hard work and requires some good arm strength. There is a small stool made specifically for this that has a very sharp and pointed tool attached to the end which is used to scrape clean all the coconut meat out of the shell.
Here in the photo above is a good view of the tool, stool, and coconuts to be cleaned.
Here you can see the way the stool and tool are used to scrape clean the coconut meat from the shell. Coconut meat and juice is used in many Thai dishes. Here my wife is getting the meat and juice to make us some Golden Chicken curry for an evening family meal.
Another angle of the stool being implemented.
Here are some wonderful meaty coconuts. In Thailand coconuts are extremely inexpensive and they are used in many ways. There are also a couple different styles of coconuts as well and they are used in different ways.
A closer look at the tool and a cleaned out coconut shell. Look at all that nice fresh coconut meat! It really doesn't get any better than this for taste and texture. I've never eaten better curry than my wife and her sister make for me, anywhere in the world. This is the real deal and entirely home-made from scratch as we say.
Here you have a better view of the working end of the tool. This tool is riveted to the wooden stool and is very sharp with many pointed pieces of metal sticking out from the end. One wrong move while using this tool could cause the user some serious harm. Experienced coconut shredders only need apply for this job.
Here's an even closer view of the old fashioned hand coconut shredder. My wife's mother and family still use many of these older impliments and tools once used in Thailand in earlier times. They also have hand-made cotton and silk wheels for spinning thread, home-made de-seeders, presses for making cotton oil and other seed oils such as soybean, cotton and silk weaving looms and machines, and other old tools I'll show one day here.
Once the meat is scraped out from the coconut shells it is rinsed in cool water and any impurities are picked from the shredded coconut. After soaking a while in water the meat is then sifted through a collander type pot and the juices collected to use for cooking. The wet meat is also squeezed in a piece of cloth to get as much of the coconut juice as possible. This is then mixed with the coconut milk and used in cooking the curries and other dishes. The coconut meat is then dried in the sun and used in many desserts and other meals.
As you can see it is very hard work to prepare this, but the taste of the curry you end up with is out of this world. I've never tasted better in all my years, and doubt I ever will. It is such a time consuming task that in our Surin neighborhood restaurant most times the curries need to be pre-ordered the day before so it can be properly done. It is a special order item, but definitely worth the wait! (You'll always know when it is curry day as I can be seen hanging about the shop making sure a bit extra is made for my evening meal.) :-)
I hope you enjoyed seeing this bit of Thai cultural work pictorial. And yes, they do have electrical machines to do this sort of thing in larger shops, but somehow it just isn't the same as the old fashioned way.
Mike
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